Big Hero 6 #2 (Marvel – Claremont / Nakayama)
Fresh from a battle that left the Tezuka Advanced Science Institute in ruins, Japan’s finest find themselves dispatched to the United States! With BH6 undercover as students, will Southport High School share the same fate? Plus, what better way to get to know a new team member than a knock down, drag out brawl? Is Big Hero 6 ready for New York? More importantly, is New York ready for Big Hero 6?
See, here’s where I get myself into trouble. I like David Nakayama. He’s one of the nicest guys you will ever meet (his Grandma is nice too) and his art is superior to what’s out there in so many ways. So, I really wanted to like this book.
I understand what the book is trying to do, and the market it is trying to reach, but something just doesn’t gel. I’m not sure Chris Claremont has a handle on the quirkiness of the genre. I’m not sure it’s something you can learn, comedy, especially the specific manga brand of comedy. It is something you feel intuitively, and I don’t think Claremont has that intuition. I don’t think he has the natural timing or inherent silliness needed to pull it off.
Don’t get me wrong, I owe half my Middle School life to Chris Claremont, and I think he’s a writer who deserves all the accolades he gets, but I don’t think he’s playing to his strength here. Gawd, I feel like I’m poking an old friend in the eye, but there it is.
Nakayama’s art is excellent as always. I’m not so fond of the inker they have stuck him with, it doesn’t do Nakayama’s subtly any justice.
It just kills me I don’t like this book. It had so much going for it. I think if they can find a writer who is a little more quirky, maybe drinks too much caffeine or something, this book would be so much better.
In the meantime, maybe Marvel could shift Nakayama over to X-Factor, so the book wouldn’t suck.
Overall C , C but I really wanted to like it.
Chris Clairmont hasn’t put out a decent book in years! He’s past his prime and can’t keep up with modern day comics. He needs to stop doing things “his” way and give the fans what they want. David Nakayama is too good of an artist to be stuck with the has-beens of the comic world.